Cooking chestnuts

[furtech]

One of my favorite fall dishes is "kuri gohan," or chestnut rice. The "recipe" is ridiculously simple (essentially cook chestnuts with rice; my problem is cooking the chestnuts. I did what one cookbook said: pour boiling water over them, then bring slowly to a boil again. Trouble is, that merely seemed to parboil them. While the skin came off easily enough, the nuts are hard and crunchy and not soft/mushy. How long are you supposed to boil/cook them??

Now that these chestnuts are peeled but undercooked, what's the best way to get them soft and edible? Microwave them with a little water? For how long?

Experienced suggestions welcome!

Comments

[neogeen.livejournal.com]

I shall call up my mom and ask her for you, for your future tries! Fresh boiled chestnuts are one of my favorite snacks. [Korean family, so I know someone in it knows exactly how to reach that soft chewy chestnut state]

[cooner.livejournal.com]

How long did you boil them? Just skimming some recipies on foodnetwork.com here, haven't found any specifically doing what you're talking about, but a few of them call for boiled chestnuts (and other vegetables) with boiling times up to 45 minutes or longer.

Alternately, if you're feeling a little more adventurous, could you try oven-roasting them? Just wrap them in a little aluminum foil and leave them in a medium-hot oven (350? 375?) ... probably start checking on them after 45 minutes or so and keep going as long as needed. You could either try to roast them dry, or drizzle them with a little olive or vegetable oil before you wrap and roast them, depending on how you want the finished product to taste ...

Just some thoughts.

(While the chestnuts are roasting ... might as well wrap a trimmed bulb or a few peeled cloves of garlic with some olive oil and roast those too, spread 'em on a piece of toast ... mmmm mmmm.)

[mognetcentral.livejournal.com]

My grandma sticks them in the rice cooker/steamer to boil for one cycle.

I love chestnut rice, but I usually buy the pre-shelled chestnuts, either cooked or dry.